iFixit wasted no time after yesterday's surprise launch of the iPad mini with Retina Display to get their hands on one and tear it apart to see how it's built. The results are in.

iFixit discovered that the iPad mini's Retina Display is made by LG, working at a higher pixel density (326 pixels per inch) than the bigger iPad Air. A 24.3 watt per hour battery is inside, a 50 percent increase in juice-carrying capacity compared to the "standard" iPad mini. The central brain of the iPad mini is an Apple A7 processor clocked at 1.3 GHz - the same speed as the iPhone 5s, just a skosh slower than the iPad Air.

Perhaps predictably, given Apple designs of late, iFixit has given the new iPad mini a very low repairability score - 2 out of 10. Red marks against the iPad mini include excessive use of adhesive, hidden screws, and a soldered Lightning connector. On the flip side, the breakdown mavens were happy that the LCD and glass aren't fused together, which should simply screen replacement, and the absence of solder on the battery, making that easier to replace, as well.

Is the iPad mini with Retina Display's repairability a factor in your decision to get one? Or do you leave the tinkering to the experts? Let me know what you think in the comments.

I was never one to replace hard drives, upgrade RAM, etc. on my desktop towers, so why bother with mobile devices? Portability is more important than upgradability, especially now that the devices are considered obsolete after 3 years.

I miss the perceived convenience of having a replaceable battery, but, having never bought one, it makes more sense to get a newer device, (plus, who likes broken battery covers?). I find myself being more careful with my devices now anyway. What used to be "toss on couch, risk bounce-fall", is now, "place gently". :D

I look forward to next year's mini which will be thinner and lighter again, and (hopefully) get a *one* on iFixit's "scale of repairability."

I would love to see Apple devices getting solid zeros from iFixit on a regular basis, just so people can finally understand how ridiculous the whole concept of "repairability" is in terms of these types of devices. Not all devices are repairable by the end user and that is decidedly a *good* thing, not a bad thing.

^ +1 fully agree!
Anyone who doesn't buy a device like this bc of its "repairability" score, can just go back to a laptop... And then try to replace a screen or motherboard. Because they are so easy...

I do my best to make sure I never have to worry about repairing my mini. Worst case scenario though it's going to the experts to take care of the problem. As long as apple keeps improving their products performance I could care less about repairability